A &#xA3;10,000 project spelling out the word Land, on cliffs underneath historic Tynemouth Priory, has been slammed by those seeing it.

Angel of the North creator, Antony Gormley, mentored young artist Tom Woolford to create the piece as part of a &#xA3;224,000 project.

Joyce Jewitt, a member of Tynemouth Village Association, called for a public meeting before it was erected. She said: "Most people in Tynemouth thought it a pointless, ridiculous idea from the start.

"It can only be seen from the pier, which is closed during much of the winter. It is also ironic this has been erected when there is a clampdown on graffiti."

North Tyneside Council approved the four-metre high and 18 metre-wide illuminated aluminium letters. It comes down in January.

Tom Woolford and A-Level students from South Tyneside College did the work as part of the Arena public art project, led by the Baltic and the Samling Art Foundation.

Woolford said: "In this setting, such a sign is at once incongruous. More appropriate perhaps to a modern, urban context than to the sea, birds, plants and rocks, yet sitting comfortably next to the various lighthouses, beacons and buoys already present.

"In the same way that these features shine a signal out to sea, a coded message formed from light, my sign points to the horizon and projects towards it a proclamation.

"In such a triumphant declaration there is something very pathetic too; the act of labelling this feature in such a straightforward, prosaic way points to an insecurity."

Landowners English Nature supported the project but worked with the Samling to protect Kittiwakes on the cliffs.

The Arena project is part-funded by a &#xA3;116,790 award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, Northern Arts, the Northern Rock Foundation and Tyne Wear councils.

Karon Wright, artistic director at The Samling Foundation, said: "Landmark has involved a lot of local people pulling out all the stops.

"One of the major remits of the project is to engage people in a debate about art and how it relates to the surroundings. Landmark has certainly got people talking and everyone is entitled to their opinion."